Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

Michigan

Change Region

comments

WMU football coach P.J. Fleck on early tenure: '100 percent success'

WMU football coach P.J. Fleck press conference 10-8-13Western Michigan football coach P.J. Fleck spoke Tuesday at the weekly press conference about the winless start to the season and he offered an assessment of his performance and what's working and not working with the team.

KALAMAZOO, MI -- Western Michigan University football coach P.J. Fleck said during his weekly press conference Tuesday he feels he has been very successful in his first 10 months on the job.

Western Michigan has yet to win a game, but the first-year coach has raised millions of dollars through fundraising, which has led to major renovations within the program's facilities and his 2014 recruiting class is the best in the Mid-American Conference.

He acknowledged Tuesday the product on the field hasn't met his standards or those of the fan base, but he said he feels he has made big strides in changing the culture of WMU football within the Kalamazoo community.

"I think as a whole, I think it's 100 percent success," Fleck said when asked to grade his performance through six games this season. "No one said this would be easy, but you look at the offseason and you look at what we've done in the recruiting department, the facilities department, the fundraising department, the culture department, I think we've been 100 percent a success.

"You look at the wins and losses, yeah, we have not been a success there, but when you look at the foundation being built in our football team and where we're going as a program, I think we're exactly where I thought we'd be. Just because you create energy doesn't mean you're guaranteed a 12-0 season. That's not it. I was hired to build a program and change a culture and turn around a community."

One of Fleck's ideas to improve the game day atmosphere was to hire a DJ to play music during games alongside the marching band. In the Broncos' two home games, a large portion of the student section stayed after halftime, which is a big step forward from years past.

Fleck also talked about the Broncos' loss to Toledo last week and Saturday's 2 p.m. homecoming game against Buffalo at Waldo Stadium.